'Much Ado' featured in second Valley Shakespeare season

Joe Meyers

Published 3:40 pm, Tuesday, July 8, 2014

The Valley Shakespeare Festival is launching its second season with "Much Ado About Nothing" in Shelton's Veterans Memorial Park July 10 to 12. Playing the two star-crossed couples are (from left) Travis Czap, Jess Breda, Megan Emery Gaffney and Colin Ryan.
Photo: Contributed Photo

The Valley Shakespeare Festival is launching its second season with...

Benedick (Colin Ryan) and Beatrice (Megan Emery Gaffney) think they are too smart to fall in love in "Much Ado About Nothing" which is being presented by Valley Shakespeare Festival in Shelton's Veterans Memorial Park July 10 to 12.
Photo: Contributed Photo

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Back for its second season, the Valley Shakespeare Festival in Shelton is presenting "Much Ado About Nothing" for three performances, starting Thursday, July 10.

"We had so much excitement last year for that first season that this one has been a little harder," artistic director Tom Simonetti said in a recent phone interview. "Last year was, `Hey kids, let's put on a show.' There was a feeling of whatever happens happens. Now we want to move to that second level -- become more professional."

Presented outdoors in Veterans Memorial Park, the show has been cast with a mix of New York and local actors that have formed a tight team, the director said.

Shelton native Simonetti is a working actor in New York who was inspired to pursue a career in the theater after seeing New Haven's Elm Shakespeare Company when he was a teenager.

The idea of producing outdoor Shakspeare in Shelton really blossomed after he worked on one of Ellen Lieberman's Connecticut Free Shakespeare productions in Bridgeport a few years ago.

Simonetti still remembers how involved audiences became with the "Much Ado" he worked on in Bridgeport. He learned there that it's a perfect romantic comedy for all ages.

"Shakespeare was a master craftsman by the time he wrote this one. The story is easy to follow and if you don't care for the love story of Beatrice and Benedick, there's Hero and Claudio, and if you're more in the mood for comedy, just wait until Dogberry comes on," he said.

"It's really a story about a community with that sense of everybody knowing each other and everybody loving the idea of getting Beatrice and Benedick together," Simonetti added of the the play's somewhat jaded main characters, who are tricked into falling in love by their friends.

The director said there is strong chemistry between his Beatrice and Benedick -- Megan Emery Gaffney and Colin Ryan. The latter is in Shelton direct from his role in the ensemble of the Broadway productions of "No Man's Land" and "Waiting for Godot," which ran in repertory with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen leading the company.

"It was nice that word of what we're doing here got to New York and he came looking for us," the director said of Ryan.

"They've been working on all cylinders," Simonetti added of his Beatrice and Benedick in rehearsal. "They're actors who trust each other, and it has been great to see that develop."

Audience involvement should be even more intense this season since the stage is lower to the ground, putting the action closer to the theatergoers in Veterans Memorial Park.

"One of the best parts of (outdoor Shakespeare) is hearing the audience really getting involved. Booing the bad guy. (Shakespeare) wrote these plays for that kind of response -- everyone outside having a great time," Simonetti said of the first performances at the Globe Theater.